Need help with a presentation to a private land conservancy that is considering trail

My name is Owen. I have posted on MTBR many times in the NY forums as OPO 19. Myself and some other dedicated riders and builders just formed a Mtn bike alliance here in Columbia County NY(CCMBA) We have a great opportunity to forge a relationship with a local land conservancy that is considering building mtn bike specific trails on their property. Im reaching out to all the knowledge here on this forum to help with any potent statistics or informational material that I can bring to the meeting we have next monday. I have prepared a trail building resume for myself and the other experienced builder and we are planning on referencing examples of other private land build projects that have gained momentum in the East.
Any thoughts, material or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Owen
CCMBA

You might ask your primary contact at the conservancy if there are any questions or concerns that you should be prepared to address. As for advice, if you don't know the answer to a question offer to find the answer and then make sure that you follow up with it.

Fairfield County NEMBA has a great relationship with the Aspetuck Land Trust and we've helped them manage and re-route trails on their 1200+ acre property.

I think the key to developing a strong relationship is acknowledging that at the end of the day we want the same thing: to be able to have balanced relationship between increasing user satisfaction & minimizing shared-use impact on the resource. I think a lot of Land Managers jump to the conclusion MTBers are all about trail mileage and stunts and we don't care about protecting the resource, if you can show you genuinely get it and their goals, you'll find life becomes much easier.

Also, be aware of who your best communicators are, some folks know the technical aspects from a to z and others might not know as much but are great at communicating. Use your crew's strengths and weaknesses to make the best impression and deliver on what you promise.

Hey Owen, feel free to use the SMBA trails in Saratoga as an example. They are trails on private land now owned by a land conservancy. Let me know if there is any specific info you would like to have regarding us, I'd be happy to provide whatever I can.

We have also been talking with another organization in Lake George about a trail project up there. This group has been using the economic benefits of trail system to gain access to a fairly large parcel owned by a land conservancy. I'd be happy to get you in touch with them to discuss their approach.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. We've been doing a lot of work in on State, City, School District, and private properties here in Oneonta. We're about an hour and a half down 23 west of Catskill. Over the past 4 years our college mountain biking club (Oneonta State Mountain Biking) has done about $100K worth of trail design and construction. Y'all should come out and ride. Also, we're putting together a big trail building day for some work on state land later this spring. The date is being juggled right now, but it's looking like either the last weekend of April or the first weekend of May. Also, I'd be willing to get a crew together to come help dig out your way sometime.

If you think it would help at all, feel free to mention you've got a fella on board who has taken extensive classes in geology, environmental sciences, soil science, as well as a 3-credit class in Trail Design & Construction and a 3-credit independent study in Advanced Trail Design & Construction.

Need help with a presentation to a private land conservancy that is considering trail

Meeting went very well. We are going to walk two of the properties in the next couple of weeks. I will update with descriptions.

Sam-thanks for the all the info and your offers of assistance. I've seen many of your posts and it seems your a doing an awesome job out there. We will def have to get out for a build and ride this season